One of our earliest partners to join the program is 10 Pound Gorilla. They’ve been with us pretty much since our beginning, bringing us one of our first beta clients. Needless to say, they know more about Hotcakes Commerce than most. 10 Pound Gorilla is headquartered near Denver, Colorado but has employees based all over the U.S. The color red in their logo has roots too… Colorado is actually a Spanish adjective for “red” and this is only one of many interesting tidbits about their fun-loving company and culture. This was the first of many things I’d learn about Cassidi and her company in this interview.
“10 Pound Gorilla believes with the right web strategies anyone can have the power to compete with and even beat the 800 Pound Gorilla.”
Cassidi Brickner
Founder & President, 10 Pound Gorilla
Cassidi Brickner founded 10 Pound Gorilla in 2003 as a company of one. She already knew that there was vast sea of competitors out there, and needed a way to stand out. In the world of 800 pound gorillas, she needed to find a way to stand out to prospective clients. Wait… there’s the name right there. In a world of fierce competition, the company, it’s brand, and it’s people were founded and have since been geared to be the secret weapon that businesses seek to achieve success online. You will most certainly see an 800 pound gorilla coming, but you might not see these folks coming.
10 Pound Gorilla has the benefit of being in nearly all of their client’s time zones, as most of their employees work remote. With the average company, you’d think this would be a challenge, but these aren’t your average gorillas. They often meet up with each other at conferences and in Colorado for team building. In Cassidi’s own words, “Our team is like family. However, most of us work remotely and live miles apart. So when we get together, it is like a college reunion.” This kind of “family” culture reaches into their daily grind where they’ll internally play little pranks on each other. A group that is this tightly knit and still loves to be around each other, it’s no wonder the team has grown so much over the past 13+ years. A great company culture always results in a great client experience (and vice versa, if you’re paying attention).
When I asked Cassidi what she thought made her team of gorillas different, she answered, “We think! Ya... That seems obvious, but I mean it. We think for you, with you and about you.” She mentioned how they use this approach to analyze the entire digital presence of your company to look for and solve problems you may not even realize that you had. What’s the underlying goal? Simply put, return on investment, or ROI. She summed it up beautifully saying, “Your success is our success.” If you wondered before how they’ve grown to have customers in 40 states and 10 counties, this might be how they made that happen.
“We never stop. Ecommerce is a living thing and needs analysis, modifications and enhancements on an on-going basis. The more you put in, the more you get out.”
Cassidi Brickner
Founder & President, 10 Pound Gorilla
When it comes to e-commerce, this team loves the challenge of an always-changing marketplace. The internet never stands still, so they enjoy learning how to help their clients achieve success. One of those areas are most certainly mobile, “Customers are purchasing on their phones and this experience needs to be optimized to maximize conversions. Unfortunately for our customers, that means more work, but it also means more sales.” They also help with reporting and nearly anything else their clients need to help their online store be more successful than before. Part of this is in helping clients to realize that when you find yourself using a “boxed” solution, not everything may be included in that box. Cassidi helps her clients through this challenge, telling us, “This is why Hotcakes is great, as it offers so many extension points to allow the platform to be customized to the customers exact needs.”
“10 Pound Gorilla breathes Hotcakes. We work with it every day, almost all day at times, and at all levels... including custom API development, view set customization, and 3rd party integrations.”
Cassidi Brickner
Founder & President, 10 Pound Gorilla
We touched on Hotcakes version 2.0 in our conversation as well. When I asked her what she found to be compelling, she immediately called out the on-page product and category analytics. Hotcakes clients don’t have to do anything more than browse their site to see how well various parts of their catalog are performing. We couldn’t chat all day though… Cassidi had to get back to her team and clients to continue to exercise her “King Kong” superpowers. Either that, or she needed to rush off to get in a quick 1,000-2,000 foot mountain bike climb. Yeah, she does that too…
I don’t know about you, but in just a short amount of time, I learned so much about this band of gorillas. They’re super passionate about solving client problems, but they don’t lose sight of the things that are important too. They make sure to keep everything fun, and I’ve even tried to (accidentally) schedule meetings outside of their normal working hours. I was immediately asked of the urgency of the matter. They very much value their time with family and friends. If you’re looking for a down-to-earth partner that is willing and able to help you grow, 10 Pound Gorilla may be your best first bet.